When the Liberal government wiped any mention of extracurriculars from the Education Act in 2009, they removed any legal barrier to a teacher boycott of these activities, according to the lawyer for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
As a result, union memos calling on teachers to withdraw from such after-school activities are not illegal, argued Howard Goldblatt Wednesday at a hearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
“Once the government removed ‘co-instructional activities’ from the Education Act — and also from the definition of a strike — there was nothing to prohibit teachers from refusing to participate in these activities,” said Goldblatt.
Two school boards are seeking a cease-and-desist order from the labour relations board against ETFO for issuing memos instructing teachers to refuse to do everything from coach teams and run field trips to collect milk money, as a way to protest the government’s imposition of contracts using Bill 115.
The Trillium Lakelands District School Board in cottage country and the Upper Canada District School Board in eastern Ontario are arguing that the memos telling teachers not to do anything extra are illegal because they are a “concerted” move to advise teachers to disrupt the “normal activities of a school,” which constitutes “unlawful strike activity” under the Education Act.
However Goldblatt said that while the Mike Harris government had originally inserted the term “co-instructional activities such as sports, arts and cultural programs” into the Education Act in 2000 — and included the refusal to do such activities under the definition of a strike — the Liberals removed these references in 2009, Goldblatt said, “under then education minister Kathleen Wynne, who is now the premier-designate.”
Goldblatt cited Wynne’s parliamentary secretary at the time, MPP Liz Sandals, stating the government did not “want to reopen the whole debate on mandatory co-instructional activities as part of strikes . . . we don’t want to replay that debate.”
Goldblatt quoted Sandals as proof the government meant to separate an extracurricular boycott from the definition of a strike “and once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
The hearing continues Thursday.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Louise Brown
As a result, union memos calling on teachers to withdraw from such after-school activities are not illegal, argued Howard Goldblatt Wednesday at a hearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
“Once the government removed ‘co-instructional activities’ from the Education Act — and also from the definition of a strike — there was nothing to prohibit teachers from refusing to participate in these activities,” said Goldblatt.
Two school boards are seeking a cease-and-desist order from the labour relations board against ETFO for issuing memos instructing teachers to refuse to do everything from coach teams and run field trips to collect milk money, as a way to protest the government’s imposition of contracts using Bill 115.
The Trillium Lakelands District School Board in cottage country and the Upper Canada District School Board in eastern Ontario are arguing that the memos telling teachers not to do anything extra are illegal because they are a “concerted” move to advise teachers to disrupt the “normal activities of a school,” which constitutes “unlawful strike activity” under the Education Act.
However Goldblatt said that while the Mike Harris government had originally inserted the term “co-instructional activities such as sports, arts and cultural programs” into the Education Act in 2000 — and included the refusal to do such activities under the definition of a strike — the Liberals removed these references in 2009, Goldblatt said, “under then education minister Kathleen Wynne, who is now the premier-designate.”
Goldblatt cited Wynne’s parliamentary secretary at the time, MPP Liz Sandals, stating the government did not “want to reopen the whole debate on mandatory co-instructional activities as part of strikes . . . we don’t want to replay that debate.”
Goldblatt quoted Sandals as proof the government meant to separate an extracurricular boycott from the definition of a strike “and once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
The hearing continues Thursday.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Louise Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment